Cigar and cigarette lighter



Aug l, 1950 Y A. BAKsT ETAL 2,516,843

CIGAR AND CIGARETTE LIGHTER Filed May l2, 1945 Patented Aug. l, 1950 CIGAR AND CIGARETTE LIGHTER Aaron Bakst and ,sima-L.v Ruskin,

New York, N. Y.

Application May 12, 1945, Serial N o. 593,348

1 alarm.` (ci. 21e-32) vide a simple and compact cigar-'and cigarette lighter which is operated by a battery of small dry cells, and which is capable of functioning even when exposed to high winds, and is free from fumes and odors.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a cigarand cigarette lighter of the type indicated wherein means are provided for positioning and interconnecting a plurality of dry cells in side-by-side relation.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a vbattery-operated lighter'in which an electric resistance element heated by the battery current can be withdrawn from the casing for use at a point remote from the latter whereby greater convenience in use is afforded, a cable of suitable length being connected with the resistance element and being normally coiled within the casing.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a battery-operated lighter wherein the electrical circuit is normally open but is automatically closed upon opening of the cover of the lighter.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of means for keeping the electrical circuit open when the control switch fails to'function for any reason.

t is a further object of the invention to provide an improved mounting for an electrical heat- .ing unit which is of more general application and i is suitable for use in electrically operated cigar and cigarette lighters, the heatingunit and its mounting being united into a separate and separable `structural unit whereby the heating coil may be easily and conveniently removed for repair or replacement and the repaired or new unit as easily and conveniently tted on its support and connected in the electrical circuit.

Inithe accompanying drawing is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention. In said drawing,

Fig. 1 is a vertical section throughthe lighter `on an enlarged'scale;

Fig.'2 is an end view of the'lighter as shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the lighter with the cover in the open position;

Fig. 4 represents a fragmentary view in verti- -calsection;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the removable bottom wall of the casing; while Figs. 6, '7 and 8 show modied forms for mounting and supporting a heating unit forconvenient detachment.

The casing of the lighter comprises a main body portion l0 of approximately rectangular cross section to which is pivoted, at II, a cover l2. the latter being normally biased to the open position by a coil spring I3. The cover is held in a closed position against the action of spring I3 by a detent member in the form .of a plate I4 secured upon the inside wall of the casing as by means of rivets I5 and provided at its upper end with a cam-faced lug I6 which is arranged to pass through registering openings in the casing wall and in the closed cover, as will be readily understood. The detent is released by means of a finger piece Il which passes through a suitable opening in the casing wall. For reasons which will appear hereinafter, the bottom wall of the casing is separable from the main body of the casing itself, and as shown, is in the form of a plate I8 provided with a peripheral ange I9 having openended slots 2B adapted to receive the stems of screws 2I threaded into suitable openings in the vertical end walls of the casing Il). As will be obvious, upon loosening of the screws 2 I, the bottom wall I8, I9 can be removed from Athe casing to provide access to the interior of the latter. -To prevent loss of the screws 2|, their inner fends can be struck down as shown at 22.

The casing is internally constructed to receive a plurality of dry cells, and yin the preferred form of the invention, the cells are arranged in at least two columns or iiles, instead of in the single file arrangement common in flashlights. The dry cells are preferably of the high ampere-hour type providing a potential of about four volts per cell. Each cell 23 has a metallic shell constituting one of its terminals and is provided with an insulating cover 24 of paper or the like. Three cells of this type connected in series are sufficient to provide the current for operating the resistance element of my lighter over quite a long period of time, and as shown in Fig. 1, two of these cells may be arranged' in co-axial relationship. The third cell, shown at 25 is arranged laterally on the twocell column and preferably in adjacent relation. To this end the interior of the casing is divided into three compartments by the partitions 26 and 21, the compartments being indicated at 28, 29 and 30. Two of these cells, as shown, are positioned in the compartment 28 while the cell 25 is located in the compartment -29 and is electrically .coiled `spring 52.

vthe insulating plate 33. held in place' by screws 54.

vided with an yinsulating stop plate 36 fixed inter-4 mediate its ends for limiting the inward movement of the cell 25. A contact member 31 is secured to the plate 3B in position to engage the metallic wall or negative terminal of the cell 25.

The third compartment 35 is provided at its upper end with a support 38 adapted to receive an electric resistance element which is indicated generally at 39. This element includes a stem portioriffil' of suicient length to be grasped conveniently with the rlngers,and is of enlarged diameter at its upper end as shown at 4l to prof'vid'ea shoulder which is adapted to engage the support 38. Within the member 4| there is arranged-a high resistance element 42 which is adapted to become sufiiciently heated .with currentirom the battery to ignite a cigar or cigarette. 'The 'stem 49 including the upper portion 4l is made of heat resisting material such as clay or l the like. 4The upper portion 4l is recessed so as tto' receive the coiled resistance element 42 Whose ends.` are connected by conductors 43 with socket terminals 44. The latter are adapted to receive ftheprongs of a'plug 45 connected to a length of cable 43 normally coiled within-the bottom por- *tion` of Hthe compartment 3D and terminating in a'conductor lll permanently connected to the contact member 31, and a conductor 48 connected to one `terminal of a manuallyoperable switch 49. w40

Theother .terminal of such switch is connected by conductor 56 with a pivoted contact member 5| whichtas shown in Fig. 4, is normally 'urged into engagementwith the terminal 35 by means of a The contact is fulcrummed 'on' a rod 53 extending across the opening 34 in The plates 33 and 35 are "The coverv or lid i2 is provided upon the inner face of its peripheral flange 55 and adjacent to the f-fulcrum with a bracket 56 which is provided with an insulating plate or block 51 arranged to swing the contact member 5| to inoperative position upon closing of` the cover l2. As will be evident,v the contact member 5| and the switch 49 are in series, so that when the cover is closed the electric circuit is broken even if the switch 49 should be closed.

The mannerof assembly and use of our improved lighter will be apparent from the foregoing. Upon removal of the bottom plate i8 the dry cells can be slipped into the compartments 28 vand 29 and upon attaching the plate I8, the cells become connected in series. If the cover l2 is .kept open during this replacement, the switch 49 ywill be opened to prevent heating of the resistance element 42. Upon closing ofthe switch 49, the

lighter 'is ready for use and upon closing 'of the cover I2 the flow of current is interrupted. If for any reason the -cover |2 should fail to close properly, the switch 49 can be opened to prevent running down ofthe battery. y

While the whole lighter can be brought bodily to the end of a-cigar or cigarette for igniting the samagitwill*frequently be, more convenient to pull out the heater element 39 and hold only such element against the end of the cigar or cigarette. Such separation of the heating element from the body of the casing is permitted by the cable 46. It will be evident that the lighter will function satisfactorily even in a high wind and in all kinds of inclement weather. Aside from this advantage over fuel operated lighters, our improved lighter has ya further advantage that no flame is held near the face, so that danger of burning of the skin or of the hair is eliminated. It will also be obvious that with our lighter no fumes of any kind will be drawn into the cigar or cigarette, as is the case with fuel operated lighters.

'In the form of the invention shown in Fig. l, the heating element 39 can be removed for replacement or repair by simple disengagement from the plug 45. In Figs. 6 to 8 there are shown two other satisfactory modes of detachably mounting the resistance element 42 which is of general application not onlyto the lighters ofthe present invention, but also -to other electrically heated devices. In the form shown in Figs. 6 and '7, the latter being a plan view oi Fig. 6 with the resistance element removed, the resistance element is coiled within a relatively thin refractory disc or the like 58; and when mounted on the tubular stem or member 4Q it slides under and is retained by an over-hangingf-ledge-,or flange 59, the appearance andy operation being very similar to those of' a tubular coil bank. The member 58 is provided with terminals which in the normal position oi said member maintain electrical contact with spring terminals 69 suitably positioned on insulatingl material ywithin the stem 40 and electrically connected to the conductors 43. T-he latter may Abe yconnected to Vsocket members 44 as infFig.` 1, or they may be more or less permanently connected to the cablefi. It will be evident Athat the spring terminals 59 act to urge the member 53 against the under side of the ledge 59 to hold said member against displacement. HOW- ever, other securing devices can be employed together with or in place of the spring action of the .terminals 69. It will be seen that although the stem 43 can -be readily grasped between the ngers to remove the same fromthe casing lwithout interfering with the positioning of the member 58, the latter `can be easily slidv out of the stem 40 for repair or replacement. Thus, it becomesunnecessary to disassemble the, whole lighter (or other heating device of which the separable resistance element forms a part) .to remove the resistance elementand its immediate support; nor does the Whole device have to be ytransported to a repair shop for. replacing the resistance element or for fitting a new member 48 to the device.

The structure shown in 8 employs a plug and socket connection between ,the separable resistance element and its immediate mounting, and the stem 4,0. fIhis typeof connection will be preferred in arrangement lwherein it is inconvenient to slide a repairedor a new resistance element into position` from the side. In this form of the invention, the enlarged top portion 4 I of the stem 401s separate from the inain body of the stem and supports the resistance coil 42 upon a suitable refractory` member as in Fig. 6. Terminals are connected with the ends of the resistance coil which engage the laterally bent ends of prongs 6| projecting through suitable insulation, below the bottom ofthe portion 4|. The prongs are adapted to be received within socket terminals 6.2 connected to the'conductorsf43.. It-will `be understood that the friction between the prongs (5|4 and their sockets is considerably greater than the friction between the stem 40 and its socket 68 so that the parts 4 I 40 may be withdrawn from the casing l as a unit without separating the parts 40 and 4 I If desired, however, parts 40 and 4| may be provided with releasable fastening devices to prevent their separation in the normal use of the device. The upper edges of the member 4l', assuming that the latter is made of metal, can be bent over to hold the resistance coil with its refractory support in place w-here it is made of nonfleXible material suitably fastening devices made, if desired, to be utilized to x the refractory disc in place.

The tubular stem 40, 4l or 40, 4I' can be made of metal or of refractory or plastic material. The casing with its cover and bottom plate or wall can be made of metal or of various plastics of preierably non-combustible material.

As will be obvious to those skilled in the art, numerous variations from the preferred invention herein described may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claim without departing from the spirit of the invention.

We claim:

A portable cigar and cigarette lighter comprising a casing divided by partitions into three laterally disposed compartments, dry cells fixedly located in two adjoining compartments, a. conducting member connecting the positive terminal of a dry cell in one compartment with the negative terminal of a dry cell in the other adjacent compartment, an electric resistance element disposed in the third compartment in insulated relation with respect to the casing, electric conductors connecting the resistance element with the dry cell battery, a movable contact member controlling the electric circuit, and means for causing the contact member temporarily to close to effect heating of the resistance element, said electric resistance element being manually removable from the casing, the electrical conductors between the resistance element and the battery including a cable of sufficient length to enable the said element to be removed a considerable distance from the casing, the cable being coiled within the third compartment when the resistance element is in position in the casing.

AARON BAKST. SIMON L. RUSKIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,537,577 Berg May 12, 1925 1,721,203 Bucknell, Jr., et al. July 16, 1929 1,728,292 Lavick Sept. 17, 1929 

